The Art of Story Telling...

What is story writing? How important is story telling? What constitutes a good story? How does an original story impact the readers over an inspired one? How important is character definition and depth? Are all stories interchangeable between written and visual media?... well there are so many such questions that comes to mind and if you go around asking different people, you will get a good and diverse set of answers. So lets analyze and put what I feel about the “Art of Story Telling”.

Without getting into the complexity of trying to define what a good story is, lets focus on how it is written. I always imagine good stories been written on a wooden desk , under a study lamp with a cup(s) of coffee and littered notes around, usually quite (or a forced aloofness) , a window view etc etc. I am pretty sure this is no longer the case but again this is how I “picture” J K Rowling writing the great Harry Potter. And I still feel that a comfortable ( natural or simulated) environment is very necessary to transit your thoughts perfectly to the word processor (or paper..seriously??). This constitute as a catalyst to the story telling aspect. Ideally you would want the complete story to be clear before you start writing it. But this almost never happens. Most of the time you have a beginning and a list of discreet events that might happen as the story progresses. Often you dont have an end but the very idea of the plot is tempting enough to start. This is the point where the two fundamental aspects of story telling comes into play – Patience and Planning. The concept of “Boy Wizard” struck to Rowling on a train in 1992 but it took 15 years for the story to complete. And we all know how it turned out. Who says creative work cannot be planned?? ask J-Ro!!

A good story need not always be an original one. I have read/seen so many great stories that have been told again and again. Someone once told me that there a only a finite number (say 15) stories ( which I would like to call as fable-framework) known to mankind. All the stories we experience are derivatives from one or many of these frameworks or other derivatives. It the way you package (or encapsulate) the derivative which makes a story good or bad. For instance I cannot even count how many plots (or sub-plots) I have read that is clearly inspired by 'The Godfather'. Yet a lot of them are great and entertaining. Once we have a theme and the story has started, the big question comes in how to keep it gripping till the last page (or the last reel). This is the toughest part. Mathematically this is a cross product of planning and the square of creativity. You might be very creative, but if you rush it, it might not come as expected. On the other hand you can also have great planning skills but if you lack a well defined and completely covered plot, it is bound to bomb. Avid readers, who have read the 'Twilight' series might see this, as the books start getting less and less gripping as the series progresses.

Another important aspect is the character definition. A good and well defined set of characters add so much dimensionality to the story. The consistency in the character is very important. This consistency is directly tied what is happening to him/her in the story. Failing to do so results in what is known as 'cranky' character. I noticed this very clearly in Twilight with Jacob's character which undergoes so many changes (book 2-3) which was not handled very well. Something similar was experienced by Harry Potter but was graciously blended with the story ( book 4-5). Another excellent example of great characters blending with the story is TV series 'Lost' , which also happens to be one of my favorite stories of the contemporary. Then comes the question if all stories interchangeable between written and visual media? The answer is yes/no/maybe. It depends. When you read a story, you are watching it with your contemplative eyes. On the other hand when you are watching a movie ( based on the same material), you are looking at it with the director's vision. If the director's vision is better or same as your, you will like it (like say '300'' ) else it could be another 'Dresdon'. However there are some books that I feel are very hard to put into silver screen like 'Watchmen' ( although kudos to the efforts, it couldn't have come better than what it did) and there are some movies that would be hard to put on book like 'Avatar'. Emotions are something which can be easily expressed in words and action is something that can be best expressed visually. I have a theory that its always easy to write a good drama novel and make a great action movie. Trying to do the reverse with these takes a good skill from the director and writers. But again there are stories that have everything and done great in both medias ( the Star Wars canonical).

The software engineer inside me defines a great story as a design pattern which should be 'open to extension but closed to modification' i.e. it should be a story complete in itself but can also serve as a universe for other spin-offs/fables to thrive. Other can just take something and develop there own complete story. The magical world from Harry Potter, the far-far-away galaxy from Star Wars, the middle earth from LOTR , the multi-verses from DC cosmos and Pandora from Avatar are all examples of such universes. This extensibility makes a good story a great story!!

This post is particularly my viewpoint and as a side note, I can be very well wrong as I am no great story teller. I have tried to explain the art with science and mathematics. But the very fact that I am using logic to explain an art might make the whole premise wrong to start with. Nonetheless, this is how I feel and see the elements of being a good raconteur.

*****Ankur